Improving the flow to use recycled water

Jay Decarolis, an operations manager at MWH Global, holds a micro filtration unit at the Advanced Water Purification Facility at the City of San Diego’s North City Water Reclamation Plant on Thursday, May, 24, 2012.

Recycled water

Yes 60% (754)

No 40% (504)

1258 total votes.

Every year California dumps enough wastewater into the ocean to fill Lake Oroville, one of the state’s largest sources of drinking water. Even thirsty San Diego pours thousands of gallons of wastewater into the Pacific off Point Loma every day.

The reasons this supply-starved state wastes so much wastewater are both simple and substantial. There is a natural recoil to drinking water that has been flushed down the toilet, even after it’s been cleaned. New plants and high-tech treatment can be cost prohibitive. Moreover, the state has enacted a Byzantine array of regulatory controls that critics say strangle agencies seeking permits to clean and send recaptured wastewater to taps.

“My bill has the impact of creating more storage across the state without big expensive dam projects,” Hueso said.

Here’s how:

• Wastewater would be regulated depending on the level of treatment. The goal is to make it easier, quicker and cheaper for districts to mingle the cleanest — called “advanced treated purified water” — with groundwater and reservoir supplies. The state Department of Public Health, after adopting updated standards, would take over the permitting responsibility from the state Water Resources Control Board and its affiliated regional agencies.

• Dozens of related regulations and codes would be redesigned to streamline permits. Agencies would have to pay more filing fees, but those supporting the bill said that’s worth it because delays caused by wading through different regulatory processes are even more expensive.

The measure is likely to come up on the Assembly floor later this week, and is expected to also undergo significant modifications this summer before a compromise could be struck sending it to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not taken a position.

San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce officials were in the Capitol recently lobbying for various causes, including Hueso’s measure.

Chamber President Ruben Barrales recognizes that creating tap water out of wastewater is expensive. “It costs a lot less than not having water,” he reasoned. “It’s insurance.”

Water agencies are under mounting pressure to recycle more water as the state grows and supply shrinks. State law already requires districts to recycle 2.5 million acre-feet by 2030. That’s enough to serve 5 million average Southern California homes for a year.

“We are pouring perfectly drinkable water into the ocean,” Hueso said, referring to supplies that could be treated up to health standards.

A 2009 state report suggested that up to 1.4 million acre-feet of wastewater could be recirculated back to taps. And the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst has said returning wastewater to the general supply is one of the “least cost, highest gain” alternatives to increasing availability.

Nevertheless, Hueso’s Assembly Bill 2398 has drawn fire from the vocal Russian River Watershed Protection Committee based in Northern California. Its members oppose provisions taking some permitting authority away from regional water quality boards. Also, there are complaints that required reporting of unauthorized discharges of some types of wastewater are too lax.

Several residents have also lodged protests. Howard Wilshire of Sebastopol, for example, wrote that more stringent standards and regulations are needed.

“In view of the rapidly growing body of scientific evidence of the drastic effects of poorly regulated discharges of toxic materials into our waterways on aquatic and human life, a proposal to reduce the standards for discharge of treated, but still contaminated, waters is not defensible,” said Wilshire, a retired federal geologist.

Some environmentalists are wary given the complexity of more than 70 pages of Hueso’s proposed changes to highly technical state law governing wastewater reclamation.

Jill Witkowski, legal clinic director for San Diego Coastkeeper, said “some of our partners have raised concerns about this bill that we are looking into.” The local group has not settled on a position, but “we are excited to see water recycling being addressed at the state level. It’s crucial from an environmental standpoint and water security standpoint to facilitate water recycling.”

Price also has been a nagging issue, beyond plant construction costs. But just like turning seawater into drinking water, the costs of capturing wastewater is coming down with technological advances, supporters say.

“As far as recycled water goes, it’s the most important bill in the last 20 years,” said Deven Upadhyay, a water resources manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Is toilet-to-tap losing its yuck factor?

The term “toilet to tap,” while fading, still dogs San Diego. It became a household slogan that derailed the city’s bid for a purification project in the 1990s.

“That was a political campaign designed to instill fear,” Hueso said.

The National Academy of Sciences in January issued a study touting water purification.

Actually, San Diegans already drink water cleansed of contaminants. Sewage, farm chemicals and industrial waste are routinely poured into the Colorado River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta systems feeding into San Diego. Water agencies then treat the water to meet public health standards.

“The legislation will not strip away any protections for public health,” said Dave Smith, managing director of WaterReuse California, which is sponsoring the measure,

The California champion of turning wastewater into drinking water is Orange County, where wastewater has been purified and mixed into groundwater for drinking water use since 2008. The commingled water is even delivered to Disneyland.

The Orange County Water District, which manages 350 square miles of a vast basin in the region, plans to enlarge its reclamation plant to handle 100 million gallons per day by the fall of 2014.

San Diego region projects may benefit

The legislation could be a boost for two major wastewater reclamation programs in San Diego.

The city of San Diego is operating an $11.8 million demonstration plant at its North City facility in Sorrento Valley to convert small amounts of wastewater to tap water. None of the recycled water flows to taps — yet.

The plant goal is to produce 16 million gallons of purified water daily.

A just-released two-year study suggests that a successfully permitted expanded facility would save ratepayers and provide more reliable supplies. But hurdles, including an estimated $3 billion price tag, remain.

Capitol officials suggest that the legislation’s streamlined regulations could help speed up the city’s progress as it moves from a pilot program to permanent use in the future. That alone could save the city $200 million, according to Hueso’s estimate.

The city of San Diego proposes to build a 23-mile pipeline from the reclamation plant to carry the purified wastewater to San Vicente Reservoir, where it would blend with imported untreated water. It would then go through another round of cleansing before delivery.

The city’s goal is to recycle 100 million gallons of wastewater per day. That is about how much is used by 850,000 residents. But even under the legislation none of the purified wastewater would go directly to taps. It would have to be first mixed with either reservoir supplies or in groundwater basins for six months.

Roger Bailey, the city of San Diego’s public works director, has embraced the legislation, saying it “consolidates recycled water policy into a practical and usable regulatory framework.”

In doing so, the legislation would “eliminate the need for costly, time-intensive and redundant regulatory hurdles” for the city when it applies for permanent permits, Bailey said. In addition, East County officials with the Helix Water District and Padre Dam Municipal Water District are eying the legislation as they work on a joint venture to purify wastewater and pipe about 5,000 acre-feet a year into nearby Lake Jennings.

Carlos Lugo, Helix’s general manager, said the agencies hope the legislation knocks down some regulatory hurdles. Implementation of Hueso’s bill would save the two districts $1 million, he estimates.